The federal government has released an options paper to improve the regulation of accounting, auditing and consulting firms in Australia, the latest move in the wake of the KPMG scandal, in which partners leaked client information and mishandled the whistleblower who raised the alarm. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing The Guardian.
KPMG staff leaked confidential Lendlease and Optus information to colleagues who were applying for lucrative audit contracts at Westpac, Dexus and Telstra. At least three partners were involved.
A new options paper, released by the assistant treasurer, Daniel Mulino, on Wednesday, flags possible moves to impose quality management and ethical obligations on the big firms, as well as possible operational or structural separation of different business functions.
Partnership limits could be reduced, new governance rules imposed and mandatory periodic testing for audit services, or a regular rotation of contracts introduced.
"In recent years, we have seen behaviour from some large accounting, auditing and consulting firms in Australia that is not fair and honest. This has undermined trust in the firms themselves and raised broader questions about the resilience of the frameworks meant to uphold market integrity. It is time to return trust and integrity so that the government, taxpayers and other businesses can rely on the services of large accounting, auditing and consulting firms," the paper states.
The move is part of broader efforts to reform the consulting sector in Australia. The government plans to gather feedback on the proposals.